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I'm still a little amazed at how well my first
"pointer", for lack of a better name, worked! I was hoping to be
able to indicate the sun's location to within about 10 seconds (time) and
instead got lucky and obtained 6 second resolution. It is able to
comfortably indicate the sun's position in two perpendicular axis at once to
within 1.5 min arc. This is done with 18 inch [45,7cm] long, 1/4 inch
[6.35mm] thick, and 2 inch [50.8mm] wide, plates. When I designed it, I
was hoping to be able to accurately detect .010 to .012 inch [.25-.30mm] of
shadow, even with the 1/2 deg. penumbra. Because of an unexpected bright
reflection of the penumbra down the length, I am able to easily see the .008
inch [.20mm] necessary for the sensitivity observed. Someday, with enough
time and help to facilitate my technical presentation, I hope to finally present
this very interesting "sundial with a pointer" in our
Compendium.
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